Day 2 - Dumfries - Glencoe

We had a look around Dumfries before setting off on our journey north.  It is a very interesting town with the river Nith running through.  We parked at a riverside carpark and straight away saw a heron catch a fish and struggle to eat it.

 
Heron with fish
We found 3 things of particular interest here.  

1. Dumfries is also known as the "Queen of the South" which is the name of their football team.  We both remember this football team from the reading of the football scores when we were young but had no idea where it came from.

2. Robert Burns lived in the town and died there in 1796.  His remains are in a mausoleum in the grounds of a nearby church. His former house is now a museum.  

 
Robert Burns' house

 
Robert Burns mausoleum

 

3. There is an attractive building called "The Midsteeple of Dumfries" in the main pedestrian street.  It has a plaque on the front giving the distance in miles to some Scottish towns/cities, Carlisle, London and Huntingdon.  Not sure what the significance of Huntingdon is in Dumfries.

 
The Midsteeple of Dumfries

 
Plaque showing distances to certain towns/cities

 

We then had quite a long drawn out journey to Loch Lomond and we were at a standstill on one of the motorways for a while.  We took the A82 up the west side of Loch Lomond and had lunch in the village of Aldochlay and then stopped at many viewpoints over the loch.  There were bluebells everywhere including along the roadside and on the hills and they are at their best at the moment.

 
One of several cottages in Aldochlay

 
View over Loch Lomond from Aldochlay

 
 
Loch Lomond

 
Loch Lomond

 
View over Loch Lomond

 
Bluebells


 
Video of bluebells along the road


We then drove through some really spectacular mountain scenery as we made our way to Glencoe.  Again we stopped at several viewpoints including one overlooking Loch Tulla.

 
The 3 sisters - Glencoe

 
Loch Tulla

 
Glencoe mountains

 
Glencoe mountains

 

We arrived at our hotel which is a little studio flat in lovely grounds in Ballachulish with great views of the mountains and of Loch Levan.  It was starting to rain as we arrived and then got heavier into the evening.

We drove to Fort William to eat as the restaurants in the area close early.  We had a walk around the town which seems to be a single pedestrianised street with Loch Linnhe on one side and the slopes of Ben Nevis on the other.  

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